THE LENS OF PERSONHOOD - VIEWING THE SELF AND OTHERS IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Some aspects of the subjective experience of individualism and collect ivism in Israel, a society that simultaneously emphasizes both worldvi ews, were explored. Ss were Arab and Jewish Israeli students (Study 1 n = 211, Study 2 n = 370, Study 3 n = 160, and Study 4 n = 280). As hy pothesized, endorsing individualism as a worldview was related to focu sing on private aspects of the self and conceptualizing the self in te rms of distinctions between the self and others. Hypotheses suggesting a relationship between collectivism, centrality of social identities to self-definition, a focus on public aspects of the self, and heighte ned perception of intergroup conflict were also supported by the data. Unexpectedly, endorsement of an individualistic worldview was also re lated to these variables. Discussion focuses on the meld of individual ism and collectivism that may occur in Israel.